


Do You Remember?

by pinqaliqo



Series: the dungeon [4]
Category: Big Bang (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 11:54:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinqaliqo/pseuds/pinqaliqo
Summary: written so long ago butLast modified date: Mar 19, 2018, 11:06am.





	Do You Remember?

The first song that had Dong Youngbae dancing on his feet was Michael Jackson’s _Remember the Time_. It was impossible to forget that moment. When his parents found him in front of the old, twenty-inch television set, they told him he needed to focus on studying instead of wasting his time dancing, but he didn’t listen to them. He was focused on the laughter that echoed with his grandfather’s clapping while he rocked back and forth along with the music.

  


The first real friend he made, Kwon Jiyong, told him that he saw him dancing behind the tool shed when he was on after school clean-up duty. Jiyong followed him home that day but without notice and was nearly pulverized when Youngbae lunged at the bush he had haphazardly thrown his body into in fear of being discovered. One hit did land on his shoulder and left a nasty bruise though, but after Jiyong explained that he was really impressed by Youngbae’s moves and asked for some tips, a dance session and dinner at Youngbae’s house was apology enough.

  


They talked about their first kisses and that was when Youngbae discovered his first secret—his greatest fear. While Jiyong told the tale of his first kiss, Youngbae realized that he was afraid of girls. It didn’t occur to him before that whenever a girl approached him at school, he would remain quiet and shove Jiyong in front of him as a body shield. Now that Jiyong finished his story and was expecting him to share, he hid his disgust at the thought of _kissing a girl_ and just _lied_. He said that they were both in his room when they kissed on his bed and Jiyong thought he was the coolest guy on earth.

  


Eventually, Jiyong found out he was lying because a girl stepped too far and made a grab for Youngbae’s goods. This resulted in the girl being pushed exceptionally hard in the hallway and Jiyong dragging his friend away in a hyperventilating mess.

 

And even after that debacle, Jiyong had the nerve to introduce Youngbae to three girls from his dance academy. Park Sunae was an older girl. From the get-go, Youngbae felt that he could tolerate her because she was nice and didn’t look like she wanted to eat him up like the rest of the girls at his school did. The other two girls were like her two lap dogs: Lee Jihyun and Hwang Jooeun. They were younger than he and Jiyong were but weren’t afraid to make it a hobby to tease and torture Jiyong. Youngbae decided that he would steer clear of their path.

  


That didn’t really work. Jooeun enjoyed making fun of his fear of girls. This reminded him to maybe kill Jiyong the next time he saw him.

 

But then she told him, “I think kissing is gross so I won’t touch you. Just think of me as one of the guys.”

  


He didn’t know when his image of her began to change. Maybe it was the time they spent at the studio at their dance academy or maybe the time they spent together at the arcade after school. Maybe it was the time when she came over to read his comic books or the time she helped him help his mom in her garden. Or maybe it was the time she held his hand when they sat at the end of his grandfather’s hospital bed. And the time she hugged him after the funeral. He didn’t know when he started to actually see her for the first time but what he was sure of was he wasn’t afraid of her. He also decided that he wouldn’t maybe kill Jiyong.

  


The first time he got his first kiss—his first, actual kiss—was the first time he got his first girlfriend.

 

“I still thinking kissing is gross,” Jooeun laughed after they pulled apart. That changed with time.

  


They began experiencing more firsts together: first part-time job, first dance exhibition, first high school ball, first time driving. Their first anniversary. On their first year anniversary, he wrote her a song and bought her concert tickets to her favorite boy band and she loved it all. She bought him a star and set up a telescope in his backyard which they came back to after the concert. They stayed out there sharing a big blanket and two cups of hot chocolate, first admiring the twinkling star that was now all his and then classifying constellations in the sky as well as making up their own. That night was the first time they slept under the same blanket, under the stars. Their next two anniversaries—as well as the monthly anniversaries in between—were spent in the same way and there weren’t any complaints about it.

  


One lazy afternoon, they lay in his bed, too lazy to do anything. They talked about everything—even baby names.

  


The moment he started to believe he was truly in love with her, truly loved her, was the moment he experienced his first heartbreak. But she said she still wanted to be friends. Maybe that was the reason why the young, childish Youngbae was so afraid of girls: they could break your heart.

  


After a few months (or more, he hasn’t really counted), she started dating Seungri, Jihyun’s brother. They fought all the time but it was never the serious kind of fighting. It was the kind where they were playfully hitting each other, tickling each other—the kinds where they end up laughing and hugging and kissing. He used to be heartbroken, but just seeing her smile and laugh so much was enough to ease the pain away. Youngbae finally got over the heartbreak.

  


His twenty-first birthday consisted of Lotte World, club-hopping, and then a slumber party at the Marriot. At first, the alcoholic beverages only circulated between Seunghyun, Sunae, Jiyong and Youngbae (after much persuasion) while Jihyun, Seungri, Jooeun and Daesung sipped on their colas, but when the alcohol really started kicking in, Sunae and Jiyong were becoming generous with the drinks and were slipping the under-aged teenagers shot glasses. Daesung stopped himself after the first shot, smacking his lips distastefully as he rejected the second shot glass that Sunae filled for him. After three shots, Seungri knocked out and Jihyun started getting touchy with Seunghyun. After seven shots, Jooeun seemed fine at first but after letting the alcohol sink in, she was losing her senses.

 

Everybody else lost their minds when she stepped over Seungri’s motionless body and kissed Youngbae.

 

When she woke up the next day, she didn’t remember anything and Seungri was just as clueless. Everyone else though, along with Youngbae, remembered everything and were not exactly sure how to act around Seungri or Jooeun.

  


“ _I love you, Youngbae_.”

  


Seungri and Jooeun broke up days after. Seungri clued in on what happened on Youngbae’s birthday and he confronted her. What he told her upset her and suddenly, they were fighting and it was the serious kind of fighting that they’ve never really experienced before.

 

“I don’t want to break up with you! I really like you, Seungri!” she cried, with actual tears.

 

His chest rose and he stood his ground. “Yeah? Well, do you love me?”

 

The hesitation that flickered in her eyes answered him when her heart didn’t. He shook his head violently when she wrapped her arms around his waist and tried to stop him and ignored the apologies she sobbed into his back. He screamed at her to cry to Youngbae and this startled her long enough for him to find a way to escape.

 

It didn’t hurt Youngbae when she didn’t come to him—it hurt him to see her so sad.

  


The next time he was contacted by her was a month later, through text:

 

_Mama D just had puppies—anyone interested in a new pet?_

  


It was weird standing in her living room again. It was weird standing next to her after everything that happened a month ago.

 

“Go ahead and pick one,” Jooeun ushered as she leaned over the small playpen her family set up for their dog and her newborn pups. “Well, there isn’t really much left to choose from—there are only two of them left. Byunghoon-oppa came over earlier. He named his Macho.”

 

He squatted beside her and observed the two pups that suckled milk from their mother. He patted Mama D first before stroking her kids. When one let out a strained squeal, he looked at Jooeun with amazement and made his decision. He went home that day with a Boston terrier named Boss and he loved him almost as much as he loved… _her_.

  


Youngbae was new to taking care of dogs and Jooeun knew this so she made it a habit to visit him at the end of each week to check up on Boss’s condition. She was always bringing new toys for the puppy to play with and sometimes she would bring Mama D so they could play together. She was spending so much time with him again that it almost felt like how things were back then— _almost_.

  


She visited him on the day of his grandfather’s memorial service just like she had before and just like she did before, she hugged him. They recalled all the things that his grandfather had done for them, what he had done for Youngbae, and recalled the memory of his grandfather when he would laugh and clap and dance along with him whenever Michael Jackson was playing on the stereo. It reminded him of the first time he knew he wanted to dance. He stood up on his feet and looked through his shelves of CDs before pulling out the first CD he had ever owned, the CD that his grandfather bought him years ago—Michael Jackson’s single, _Remember the Time_. He slipped the CD into his obsolete stereo system and when he pressed play, he laughed at the memory of his grandfather dancing with him. He didn’t realize he was crying until the pad of Jooeun’s thumbs brushed against his cheeks and her lips met his.

 

_Do you remember?_

_Remember the times_

_On the phone, you and me_

_Remember the times_

_Till dawn, two or three_

_What about us?_

  


A chorus of “Happy Birthday” ended and the sounds of shot glasses ringing drowned out in the loud, club atmosphere. He’s with the people he would cherish for the rest of his life—Choi Seunghyun, Park Sunae, his best friend, Kwon Jiyong, Lee Seungri (even though things were weird at first after what Seungri went through with Jooeun), Lee Jihyun and Kang Daesung. Jooeun had work that night and couldn’t ask for a day off early enough so she was stuck. That was okay though—when he went home at two that night, he found her in his backyard with a telescope, a big blanket over her shoulders and two cups of hot cocoa within her grasp. She invited him into the blanket with her and handed him his cup of hot cocoa and for the rest of the night, they looked through the telescope for the star she had bought him for their anniversary, then classifying constellations in the sky as well as making up their own. Then they fell asleep in the backyard under the same blanket, under the stars.

 

That was the first time he said those three little words and finally found the first and last girl he would ever love.

**Author's Note:**

> written so long ago but
> 
> Last modified date: Mar 19, 2018, 11:06am.


End file.
